Sanchez confident he'll be ready for Opening Day

Sanchez confident he'll be ready for Opening Day

Freddy Sanchez is confident he'll be ready to play come the 2012 season opener.

"I will be ready," Sanchez told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Im definitely right on schedule if not ahead of schedule.

Sanchez, who had season-ending shoulder surgery last August, is coming off a three-week strengthening program in Arizona.

"My strength has come a long way," he said.

Sanchez began his throwing program two weeks ago. He is now out to 60 feet, and he says his surgically-repaired shoulder "is feeling really good." He plans to begin a hitting program, which is less trying on the shoulder than throwing, in early January.

The Giants are relying heavily on their second baseman. This offseason, they have used the return of Sanchez and injured catcher Buster Posey as reasons why they don't need to acquire a big bat, saying the return of Sanchez and Posey is the equivalent of adding two new players.

Sanchez, 33, is due 6 million in the second of a two-year deal this coming season. He hit .289 with three home runs in 60 games last year, before diving for a ball up the middle against the Reds June 10 and suffering the dislocated shoulder that would end his season.

The update on Sanchez at this point is positive, but he'll be a few weeks behind the other position players when he reports to Spring Training, which he plans to do early with the pitchers and catchers.

In Bay Area, bad teams get dismissed in most passive-aggressive way of all

AP

In Bay Area, bad teams get dismissed in most passive-aggressive way of all

There is no reason for us to waste your time by selling you on the last week of the baseball season. Being in the playoffs, or on their edge, makes the first 24 weeks well worth the slog, as you all remember from 2014 and as Giants fans remember from last year.

But for those towns in which doom has already been applied – say, like Oakland and San Francisco, just to name two we can drive to – the baseball season died awhile ago. Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge and Clayton Kershaw and Corey Kluber and the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals – they are all a gray, indistinct blur that doesn’t touch us all that much.

As a result, all the notions in the middle of the decade that this is actually a baseball area turned out to be wrong again. What we are – what we have always been – is a great place for front-running.

Just like almost every other town in America.

There are few towns where this is untrue. St. Louis for the Cardinals, Green Bay for the Packers, Pittsburgh for the Steelers, Toronto for the Maple Leafs, Dallas for the Cowboys, Philadelphia for the Eagles, Los Angeles for the Lakers – they all maintain their audiences in good times and bad, both through hinders in seats and eyes on sets.

Here, though, bad teams get dismissed in the most passive-aggressive way of all. We stop attending, watching or talking about them and find other things to do with ourselves, which I would suggest is probably the healthier way to approach entertainment that doesn’t entertain. And because we are also incredibly provincial, we won’t pay attention to those people who are enjoying the week because in our collective world view, any party we’re not at is just people milling about.

But healthier isn’t always the same as viscerally better. Ignoring the Giants’ ferocious battle with Philadelphia for the first draft pick next year, and marveling at the invisibility of the A’s late-season winning just isn’t as much of a hoot when there are so many teams standing on their necks.

Anyway, there are six more days and then the playoffs begin, and they’ll be fascinating because pennant races always are. You'll all be missed.

Hundley still not ready to discuss future; Cain to start during final weekend

Hundley still not ready to discuss future; Cain to start during final weekend

PHOENIX — A few weeks ago, Nick Hundley said he preferred not to talk about his future until the end of the season. We’re close enough, so after hitting the go-ahead homer Monday night, Hundley was again asked about his 2018 plans. He smiled.

“How many have we got left? Five?” he said. “Ask me Sunday.”

It’s not just the media and fans seeking an answer from the popular backup who has nine homers. The Giants hope to get some feel from Hundley as they finalize offseason plans, and manager Bruce Bochy said he would talk to the veteran this week. Bochy left no doubt about what he hopes will happen.

“I think he knows what we think of him,” he said.

Hundley, a 34-year-old who came over in the offseason, has been one of the few overachievers this season. He has 32 extra-base hits in 274 at-bats, taking advantage of increased time with Brandon Belt done for the year and Buster Posey sliding over to first base. Hundley is one of the lineup’s more potent right-handed options, and he has earned praise from the starting staff. Johnny Cueto said Hundley helped him navigate a post-clinch Diamondbacks lineup that was essentially pulled straight out of Triple-A.

Cueto did so with ease, striking out eight in six innings. He evened his record at 8-8, and he’ll have a chance to clinch a winning season on Sunday. Bochy said Cueto will start the final game of the season, and he confirmed that Matt Cain will start either Friday or Saturday. Asked for more details, the manager kept it just as mysterious as his catcher.